Athen. xvi. 61. Cf. Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 48. t. i. p. 343. Footnote 1173: Sch. Aristoph. Vesp. 1373. Bœttiger. Fur. pl. 2. Barthelémy, Anacharsis, ii. 330. Goguet. iii. 391. Cf. Gitone, Il Costume, tav. 63. Zoëga, Bassi Rilievi, tav. 14. ----- The making of pitch, generally found in these shops, was carried on in the following manner,[1174] particularly among the Macedonians: Having cleared a large level space in the forests, as when constructing a threshing-floor, they carefully paved it, and gave the whole a slope towards the centre. The billets of wood were then piled up endways as close to each other as possible, and so as that the height of the heap should always be in proportion to its magnitude. These piles were frequently of enormous dimensions, falling little short of a hundred yards in circumference and rising to the height of eighty or ninety feet. The whole mound was then covered with turf and earth; and the wood having been set on fire by means of an open passage below, which immediately afterwards was closed, numerous ladders were thrown up along its sides in order that, should the least smoke anywhere appear, fresh layers of turf and earth might be cast upon it: for if the flame found a vent the hopes of the manufacturer were destroyed. The pitch flowed off by an underground channel leading from the centre of the area to a spacious cistern sunk in the earth about twenty feet beyond the circumference of the mound, where it was suffered to cool. During two days and two nights the fire in these heaps continued generally to burn, requiring the incessant care and vigilance of the workmen, though it frequently happened that before sunset on the second day, the earthy crust flattened and fell in, the wood being reduced to ashes. This was generally preceded by the pitch ceasing to flow. The whole of this period was converted into a holiday by the labourers, who offered sacrifice to the gods, and preferred many prayers, that their pitch might be plentiful and good. ----- Footnote 1174: Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 3. i. Cf. Sch. Aristoph. Acharn. 189. 643. ----- Nitre was procured from wood-ashes,[1175] as it is at this day in Circassia, from the ashes of a plant cultivated for the purpose. It has been supposed that the ancients were acquainted with gunpowder;[1176] and there appears to have been a dim tradition of artificial thunder and lightning among the Brachmanes in the remotest antiquity.[1177] ----- Footnote 1175: Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 7. 6. Dutens, Orig. des Découvertes, &c. p. 183. Bell, Resid. in Circassia, ii. 30. Beckmann, ii. 434. Footnote 1176: Dutens, p. 194, sqq. Footnote 1177: Philost. Vit. Apoll. Tyan. ii. 33. iii. 13. Themist. Orat. 27. p. 337. -----